A group of leading Asian hotel professionals has expressed confidence in the continued growth of the region’s online sector.

The ‘Driving Hotel Revenue Malaysia Summit’, which was organised by IDeaS Revenue Solutions, gathered more than 160 of the region’s top hotel professionals recently. And in a survey of attendees, 90% predicted that the growth of online hotel bookings would exceed 20% over the next two years.

And the rise of social media and online review sites across Asia appears to be having a significant influence on the hotel sector. Ninety-four percent of hoteliers surveyed at the event stated that a hotel’s online reputation can have an impact on a guest’s purchasing decision, while 66% said they believe that a hotel’s online reputation can influence how hoteliers price their rooms and services.

“In an increasingly digital age, an hotelier’s reputation has never been more critical. With the ability for guests to share both positive and negative hotel experiences to large groups of people – including potential guests – in real-time, ensuring that guests have a positive perception of your hotel is paramount,” said Gladys Ang, IDeaS’ regional director of sales.

“While online reviews have been generally used by hoteliers to help improve operational and marketing activities to date, the proven relationship between online reputation and pricing means that hoteliers need to incorporate online reputation data when they develop their pricing strategies, consider their competitive positioning and make tactical pricing adjustments.”

In addition to identifying opportunities for social media and hotel pricing strategies, research from the summit highlighted the fact that the outlook for the Asian hotel sector is overwhelmingly positive. Eighty-three percent of hoteliers at the summit stated their belief that demand for the regional hotel sector will grow by more than 10% in the coming two years.

Business travellers expected to drive growth in the hotel sector at a greater rate than leisure travellers.

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